Page 30 of On the Way to You

Emery chuckled, listing it off as I typed it into my phone.

“When’s your birthday?”

“Hey, it’s my turn. Don’t be greedy.”

I threw my hands up in mock surrender.

“You keep talking about your dream school,” he said as we pulled back into the passing lane. “Which school?”

Kalo popped up from her seat in the back, excited we were talking again. She licked his ear and we both laughed as she climbed into the front seat and onto my lap.

“Bastyr,” I answered, rubbing behind Kalo’s ears. “I want to go into Naturopathic Medicine.”

“I don’t even know what that is.”

“Voodoo,” I joked. “Basically medicine without stuffing people full of pills. Trying to use what the earth gives us naturally to live a long and healthy life.”

“This from the girl who devoured an entire bag of beef jerky in front of me yesterday.”

I sighed. “Yeah, well, I’m sure my diet will change once I’m there. In my defense, it’s kind of hard to eat anything even remotely healthy in Alabama.”

“Fair,” he said with a smile. “So, you want to help people. I’m shocked. Never would have guessed.”

I swatted at his arm. “Funny. When’s your birthday?”

“June first.”

I squinted one eye, thinking through the calendar as Kalo hopped out of my lap again and into the back. She propped herself between our seats, her tongue blowing in the wind.

“Gemini,” I finally said, and it all clicked together. “Oh, yeah, I can totally see that.”

“See what?”

“It just tells me a lot about who you are,” I explained. “The need for adventure, the charming personality, the habit to go from light and fun to pensive and deep in a split second.”

Emery threw his head back in a laugh. “Oh God, please tell me you don’t actually believe that mysigntells you who I am? Let me guess, you’re an Aquarius and have it tattooed on your foot.”

My mouth popped open and I sat up straighter. “I am an Aquarius, actually.”

“Of course, you are,” he laughed the words. “I promise you, there’s nothing my sign can tell you about me, nothing that’s actually substantial, anyway. Horoscopes and all that? It’s bullshit. Say something vague enough and you can apply it to anyone’s life.”

“That’s not true!” I argued. “I am a textbook Aquarius. Like, it’s scary how much my sign is accurate for who I am.”

“That so?” he asked, and he pulled his phone from his pocket.

“Don’t text and drive.”

He frowned. “I’ve got it, Mom. Okay,” he said, eyes on the road again, but they kept flicking down to his phone. “So, you’d say you’re loyal and kind, and hardworking, but that your weakness is that you tend to worry and you’re overcritical of yourself? And you’d also say that you love books and nature, but you dislike being the center of attention.”

I nodded. “Yep, that’s me to a T.”

“Congratulations. You’re a Virgo.”

He tossed his phone to me as I scoffed, rolling my eyes. But when I looked down at the screen, it was the same astrology site I referenced all the time, and the traits he’d been reading were for a Virgo, not an Aquarius.

My mouth popped open again.

Emery eyed me from the driver seat, a shit-eating grin on his face as my eyes scanned the screen. Even Kalo seemed in on the joke, licking my shoulder, and I just tossed the phone back to him and crossed my arms. “You’re an asshole.”